After a World Pool Gold Cup day that had drawn a blank up to then, Richard Fourie crowned a superb season with an armchair ride to register a 141st Grade 1 winner for Mike de Kock, courtesy of the relentless galloping Dave The King who scored in the R1,5 million The HKJC Gr1 Champions Cup at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Sunday.
Dave The King saunters home under Richard Fourie (Pic – Candiese Lenferna)
A winner of the Hollywoodbets Gold Challenge just over two months earlier, the decision to skip the Hollywoodbets Durban July paid handsome dividends, with a fresh Dave The King facing eight rivals who had all walked the big race route on 6 July.
The victory gave Mike de Kock his third victory of the 21st century in the Champions Cup after Equal Image (2006) and Ingleside (2001).
After Purple Pitcher had led the charge earlier, Richard Fourie let Dave The King (9-4) flex his authority and the long-striding son of Ascot’s Galileo stallion Global View, took up the cudgel at the 1000m.
Despite Piere Strydom keeping in touch with the leader on See It Again, the 4yo gelding was gone and he drew clear to beat the luckless Cousin Casey (8-1), who ran his fourth consecutive second, 1,40 lengths back.
Dave The King clocked 109,49 secs for the 1800m.
Purple Pitcher (Clavin Habib, 33-1) and the game See It Again (Piere Strydom, 7-2) dead-heated for third, with drama in the shape of an objection by Calvin Habib on the grounds of interference and intimidation following. The Stipes weren’t impressed and overruled the objection, with Habib forfeiting his deposit.
Richard Fourie, registering his 377th winner of a record season, said that Dave The King’s big stride got him their easily.
Mike de Kock said that things had gone almost too well.
“One worries as a trainer when things just go so smoothly. I was a bit concerned in the early stages but when he got going, it takes a good one to beat him. He could win anywhere in the world,” he added.
A R175 000 Cape Premier Yearling Sale purchase, Dave The King, a son of Global View (Galileo) out of the once winning Jet Master mare Touche, started his career with Vaughan Marshall in the Cape, before transferring to Mike de Kock early in 2023.
Bred by Gary Player, who races him in partnership with Larry Nestadt and Ralphs Racing, he is a winner of 6 races with 8 places from 21 starts for stakes of R4 485 000.
